Who Decides What Gets Built Behind Edinburg Circle in The Highlands?

On the evening of August 8, 2024, Valdosta City Council took up a modest request. Freeman Investments LLC wanted to build a storage building and a fenced lot for service trucks. The site was a 1.89-acre vacant field at 3880 Bemiss Road, right behind the homes on the west side of the Edinburg Circle cul-de-sac in The Highlands. Neighbors came to oppose it. The motion to approve failed 2-4.

Many people would read that as a win for the quiet backyard. The minutes tell a more complicated story. The vote kept the parcel in a zoning category that already allows offices and housing, including apartments, up to 18 units per acre. On 1.89 acres, the city's planning director put that at up to 34 units. No council vote is needed for any of it.

For anyone thinking about The Highlands, that's the key point. The house you tour is only part of what you're buying. You're also buying whatever the land around it is zoned for, plus the single road every trip in and out depends on.

What the Vote Left in Place

The request was to rezone the parcel from Residential-Professional, or R-P, to Neighborhood-Commercial, or C-N. Here's how the two categories compared, as city staff described them that night:

Planning staff recommended approval. Their reasoning was that the lighter C-N category would act as "a buffer/transition to The Highlands Subdivision" from whatever gets built along Bemiss Road later. At its July 29, 2024 meeting, the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission also recommended approval, 8-0. Its condition was a wooden opaque fence at least 6 feet tall along the east property line, the side that faces the homes.

The applicant's engineer told council that the property owner "will recover his money by putting up apartments very soon" if the rezoning failed. A council member made the same point to the neighbors. He said apartments could go up without council's permission and that a building of that kind would overlook the homes next to it.

At the hearing, a counterpoint was that the narrowest part of the parcel measures 122 feet and that apartments would need a fire lane, among other requirements. Both points can be true. The zoning allows housing on the parcel, and the parcel's shape may make housing hard to build. Neither one has been tested. As of late September 2026, we found no newer rezoning request, site plan, or development proposal for 3880 Bemiss Road on the city or planning commission agendas we searched. That isn't proof that nothing has been filed. It means nothing has surfaced publicly.

Why the Field Was Never Part of the Neighborhood

The parcel's history explains why it can't be built on by itself. City staff called it a "remnant undeveloped piece of land" from when The Highlands was developed about 20 years ago. Staff said it was never meant to be part of the neighborhood. The original developers forfeited it in 2012, and the current owner bought it in 2019. The engineer who spoke for the applicant said he designed The Highlands in 2003 and that the field was left over from the commercial tract along Bemiss.

The parcel has no street frontage. Before anything is built there, it has to be combined with neighboring land that fronts a road. The owner also owns the commercially zoned property to the north, so it's the one party that can make the field buildable. Staff described a road connection to the neighborhood on the east as "highly unfeasible." Their view was that the field will most likely end up as part of the Bemiss Road properties, which "will likely be developed commercially." On the comprehensive plan's Future Development Map, the area is marked as a Neighborhood Activity Center.

Not everyone agreed with that history. A different account at the hearing was that the land had been planned as green common area, and that the homeowners association later deeded it to the family. The minutes record both accounts and don't settle the question. For a buyer, the lesson holds either way. Open land next to a lot can belong to someone else and carry its own development rights.

The hearing also covered some practical details. A report at the hearing said the field hadn't been mowed in more than five years and that the owners of the three adjoining homes had been maintaining a strip past their own property lines. A question was also raised about where the newly set survey pins fell relative to an irrigation system. These are the kinds of questions that come up in a title review or a survey on a lot next to vacant land.

One Entrance Carries the Whole Subdivision

Any new development near The Highlands would share the neighborhood's road setup, and that setup is unusual. City records from 2008 describe The Highlands as having "the only point of ingress and egress being Huntley Drive." Records from the same year count roughly 317 lots, with a condition that no lot be smaller than 8,000 square feet. They also note that The Highlands doesn't connect to the neighboring Branch Pointe subdivision.

In September 2020, the Georgia Department of Transportation installed a Reduced Conflict U-Turn, or RCUT, where Huntley Drive meets State Route 125, Bemiss Road. The design uses a 425-foot raised curb to stop left turns from Huntley onto Bemiss. To head south, drivers turn right, go about 1,000 feet, and make a U-turn. The city said GDOT had studied the intersection six times and that it had never met the requirements for a traffic signal. From January 2016 to July 2019, nine crashes were reported there, and seven were angle crashes. We didn't find a more recent public review of how the intersection has worked since then. If you're shopping here, drive the route during the hours you would actually commute.

That ties back to the field. At the 2024 hearing, a counterpoint was that apartments would require a substantial change in the traffic and U-turns that happen there. The entrance and the vacant parcel are the same issue. Whatever goes on the Bemiss frontage next to The Highlands will feed into the same stretch of road the subdivision's single entrance uses.

What to Check Before an Offer Near the Bemiss Frontage

None of this rules out The Highlands. It tells you what to look up before you write an offer, especially for homes on Edinburg Circle or anywhere close to the commercial land along Bemiss Road.

1. Pull the zoning on every adjacent parcel, not just the lot you're buying. Ask what each category allows by right, without a council vote. At 3880 Bemiss Road, that answer is offices and housing at up to 18 units per acre.
2. Read the minutes of any past hearing on nearby land. The August 8, 2024 Valdosta City Council minutes include the staff analysis, the engineer's statements, and the final vote.
3. Watch the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission agendas. Rezoning requests in the city go there first, so that's where a new filing would show up.
4. Order a survey when the lot backs up to vacant land. Property pins, fences, berms, and irrigation lines all came up at the 2024 hearing.
5. Drive the Huntley Drive exit at rush hour. The city's 2020 notice on the RCUT describes the design. Today's traffic is something you can only judge in person.
6. Ask how the homeowners association handles common land. The 2024 hearing included a claim that land once thought of as common area had been deeded away.

This is general information about public records, not legal advice. Valdosta's planning staff can confirm current zoning on any parcel.

A Few Questions Worth Answering Directly

Is anything being built on the field behind Edinburg Circle right now? We found no new public proposal for 3880 Bemiss Road on city or planning commission agendas through late September 2026. The 2024 request was denied, and the parcel kept its R-P zoning.

Could apartments really go there? Under R-P zoning, city staff said multifamily housing is allowed at up to 18 units per acre, or about 34 units on 1.89 acres. Any actual project would still have to meet site requirements. Neighbors pointed to the parcel's narrow shape and the need for a fire lane.

Why can't drivers turn left out of Huntley Drive? GDOT installed the RCUT in 2020 after the intersection repeatedly failed to qualify for a traffic signal. Drivers heading south turn right, go about 1,000 feet, and make a U-turn.

If you're looking at a home in The Highlands, especially one on Edinburg Circle or near the Bemiss frontage, Rachelle Anderson can help you pull the zoning on the land around it, review the hearing record, and plan your test drive of the Huntley Drive exit before you make an offer. Let's Connect.